


And I feel I wanna stay

by ellievolia



Category: Captain America (2011), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Pets, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-14
Updated: 2011-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-27 08:28:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/293747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellievolia/pseuds/ellievolia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Bucky share an apartment, and Steve brings home a cat, mindless of the pet deposit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And I feel I wanna stay

**Author's Note:**

> PG-13, although there is one scene of a sexual nature. I do not only write stories where people adopt pets, I promise! Oh, dearie me.

“What,” Bucky asks, looking at the ball of fur in Steve’s oversized arms, “is that?”

Steve looks at him like he’s stupid, which, duh, because it is very obviously what _that_ is, and Bucky wants nothing to do with it in their apartment. Cats tend to hate him, and Bucky has made it a rule to hate them right back.

The ball of fur’s head pokes out of Steve’s arms, looking straight at Bucky with gray-green eyes bright in the middle of all that black fur.

“I found him going at it in the bins behind the gym. Can we keep him, Bucky? Come on, just look at him, he’s going to freeze to death outside this winter.”

Steve holds out the kitten towards Bucky’s face, his own features schooled into his best impersonation of a dog wanting a biscuit, and the cat mewls pitifully, legs scrambling at the air around him.

“If he pisses on anything of mine, you’re paying for the dry-cleaning.” Bucky hopes he’s looking as stern as he’s trying to feel, because, a _cat_. This is not what he signed up for.

\---

Steve kisses Bucky on a December morning; it’s surprising and at the same time it’s not, it’s mostly a long time coming and Bucky savors it, his nose pressing against Steve’s cheek, cold and clammy from his early morning run outside, his fingers tangling in Steve’s hair at the back of his neck, Steve’s hands framing Bucky’s hips like they belong there and nowhere else, ever.

\---

Bucky looks up from his book at the hissing noise, raising an eyebrow at the cat on the floor, happily chewing on one of Steve’s cuff links.

“Oh, for - Howie, leave that alone. If you swallow it and kill yourself Steve will manage to blame me for it.”

Bucky leans down, wrestling with the kitten for the sharp cuff link, having to force it out of his mouth, and for a second he worries about Howard hurting himself, but then again, if he does, it’s not Bucky’s fault.. He wins in the end, if only for a few scratches and bites on the flesh of his hand.

“Evil creature. I’m sure you’re all doing it on purpose.”

\---

At least, Steve does most of the feeding and all the litter changing and the cleaning after Howard, which is - something. He also cooks for Bucky on a regular basis, which helps, too. Bucky is not immune to bribes, especially when they come with Steve only half-clothed in their kitchen. He’s a fairly weak man when it comes to Steve, and so he lets Howard use him as a jungle gym and bite him and lick his eyelids when he’s trying to fall asleep. It doesn’t mean he’s happy with it, though.

\---

Bucky’s never given much thought about having a pet, and he’s about just as good with them as he is with kids; no good at all. Which is why it aggravates him when Steve gets angry over Howie. Especially over stuff like this. But now there’s a brown puddle in the middle of the floor, and it’s sticky and smelly and Steve is _on his knees_ cleaning it up, and it’s hard for Bucky to process it all in an orderly manner.

“Look, it’s not my fault, okay? You could have told me chocolate isn’t good for cats! I was just trying to bribe him, I thought maybe he’d like me more.”

Steve huffs out in answer, Howard sitting next to him, his tail swishing back and forth over the hardwood floor. He looks utterly unimpressed by the mess he himself created, looking at Steve wiping it off the floor like he’s _meant_ to. Howard has a superiority complex. Bucky can’t take it any more, and he turns around, stalking back to his desk.

“Fine, I won’t feed him any more chocolate.”

“Nothing too sweet. Too much sugar usually leads to blindness.” Steve’s voice is quiet, and Bucky looks at him over his shoulder. He nods.

“Okay.”

\---

Steve gets Bucky a book about taking care of cats, with a title way too long and a lot of scientific-looking quotes inside, and Bucky takes it and grins and kisses Steve just because they’re here, toe to toe with the book between them and Howie wrapped around Steve’s ankle.

\---

Bucky wakes up to the sound of Howie wailing, demanding food and not caring that it is six in the morning on a Sunday, bumping his little head against the door repeatedly. It’s incredibly irritating, and it drives Bucky to leave the comfort of his bed and pad around the apartment in his boxer-shorts and socks and shirt, shivering into the cold air as he fills Howie’s bowls with food and water, leaving them right in front of Howie.

Howard, a _cat_ , has the gall to look up at him with something like contempt, and then he turns around and goes to mewl in front of Steve’s door. Without having eaten anything. Not that Bucky doesn’t get it, because he’d like to be wrapped in Steve’s arms himself, but this thing between them is moving slower than slow, and yet he doesn’t want to fuck it up by rushing. But still, that cat.

“Horrible, horrible animal.”

\---

The first time Steve goes down on Bucky, he’s still got snow in his hair, and his ears are bright red from the cold outside, and it’s like a light switch was turned on in his head. He smells of chestnuts and fresh sweat and he tells Bucky he’s never done this before, but _fuck_ if Bucky cares. And Steve is careful with his teeth and he moves slowly, a light frown of concentration on his forehead; he looks so mind-blowingly gorgeous like this that Bucky’s legs tremble and he has to lock his knees to keep from falling apart.

\---

Howie starts getting fat. His belly swishes as he walks close to the floor, always in a half crouch like he’s expecting everything underneath the furniture to come hurtling at him.

“You feed him too much, Steve.”

Steve frowns, looking worriedly at the cat and his swishy belly. “Maybe we should let him go outside more.”

“Believe me, he gets a lot of exercise.” Bucky leans into Steve a little.

“Did you find him on top of your door again?”

“He managed to get himself stuck on top of it, with his front legs on one side and his back legs on the other. Dangling like that, from the middle.”

Steve bursts out laughing, and Bucky smirks at the memory. Howie jumps at his foot, curling his body around and digging his teeth in his big toe.

\---

Steve starts leaving his bedroom door open at night. Bucky is always the first to join him between the sheets, settling himself in Steve’s arms or fitting himself against Steve’s back. Then Howie follows, curling his body in any space they’ve left between their bodies - against an ankle, into the curve of Steve’s body, on top Bucky’s head.

\---

One day, Steve comes home to find Bucky on the couch, reading a book and rubbing Howie’s chin absent-mindedly. Howard’s purring is so loud, Bucky feels wrapped in some sort of massage blanket, feeling liquid with hos relaxing it is.

It’s another one of those things that was a long time coming, but somehow, Howard and Bucky came to an agreement about living together and sharing Steve’s affections. Bucky grins at Steve’s stunned expression, holding a hand out for him. Steve grips his fingers while his other hand pets the top of Howie’s head.

“So are you two pals, now?”

“We’re cohabitating.”

“Never thought I’d see the day.”

Bucky gasps, pretending shock. “Ye of little faith.”

Steve just smiles, amused and fond, and pulls away. “I’ll go grab a shower.”

\---

Bucky still calls Steve a punk. And one day, a year after their first kiss, they end up of the roof of their building, trying to get Howard to get back inside, the black cat a stark contrast to the snow. Steve slides and almost falls, and Bucky calls him a punk, and it’s like he’s saying I love you, because he means it like that. And Steve flicks Bucky’s ear and it says I love you, too, right back at Bucky.

Howie mewls, obviously not wanting to be ignored, and Steve smiles deviously.

“You go left, I go right.”

 

The End.


End file.
